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Monday, October 20, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. - Michael Jordan
Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, Vol 2: 1976 - 2018 is available in print, Kindle eBook & Audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Upcoming racing:
- October 26: Superprestige Overijse-Vlaamse Druivencross
Latest completed racing:
- October 14 - 19: Tour of Guangxi
- October 14 - 19: Tour of Holland
- October 19: Veneto Classic
- October 19: Japan Cup
- October 19: Chrono des Nations
- October 15: Giro del Veneto
- October 12: Paris-Tours
- October 11: Il Lombardia
- October 9: Gran Piemonte
- October 7: Binche-Chimay-Binche
- October 7: Tre Valli Varesine
- October 6: Coppa Bernocchi
- September 28 - October 5: Tour de Langkawi
- October 5: Coppa Agostoni
- October 4: Giro dell'Emilia
- October 3: Mûnsterland Giro
- September 21 - 28: World Cycling Championships
- September 17 - 21: Tour de Luxembourg
We posted the report from stage winner Paul Magnier's Team Soudal Quick-Step with the results.
Here's the report from GC winner Paul Double's Team Jayco-AlUla:
Paul Double has claimed his debut WorldTour general classification win, taking the overall victory at the Tour of Guangxi.
The British rider set himself up for success yesterday by soloing to the win on the queen stage of the six-day race. He went into the final stage with a 15-second lead to defend to keep a hold of the leader’s red jersey.
Paul Double wins 2025 Tour of Guangxi stage five
Team Jayco AlUla worked hard to keep control of the race, managing the gap to a small breakaway group for much of the day. As the race exploded over the final climb, and second-placed overall Victor Lafay went on the attack, Alan Hatherly and then Jasha Sütterlin were at hand to help Double close the gap.
Attacks continued into the final kilometres of the race, but Double and the rest of the Team Jayco AlUla squad kept their cool. Ultimately, the stage finished in a reduced bunch sprint with Double riding to the line safely in the group to seal the overall victory.
Paul Double:
“I’m very happy and it was a bit emotional at the finish line, with the boys who were so good today. I was happy yesterday, but to finish the job today is a bit emotional. When Lafay went on the last lap, I panicked. The boys told me not to, but I was panicking. I tried to pull it back on my own and I was not doing a great job, but then Alan was there and he was super strong and then Jasha came back. It was all fine in the end, and here we are, I’ve got the red jersey. The form was good going into the race, but there are a lot of really good bike riders here. As I said yesterday, I wanted to do well but I didn’t expect this.”
Steve Cummings – Sport Director:
“It is a very nice result for the team to end the season like this. We came here with a strong team, all the riders were in good shape, which is always a challenge at the end of the season. We tried in the sprints, but had some bad luck, being behind a crash and mechanical on another day. However, the performance of the sprint team improved, the boys did an excellent job but we just didn’t have the legs.
"In the GC competition, Paul raced the stage five climb on instinct and had the power to anticipate the favourites. It was very impressive and even more impressive after the season he has had. Paul took the step up to WT level this season, completed his first Grand Tour and has won five times over the year. It’s great for the team that a rider like him has come to us, continually improved and performed better than the ever. I’m sure he will be the first to thank his teammates who have all been instrumental in positioning him throughout the week and controlling the final stage.”
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Here's the Tour of Guangxi report from Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Team Visma | Lease a Bike wrapped up the final WorldTour race of the season in style, winning both the team classification and the young rider classification at the Gree Tour of Guangxi. The squad’s strong collective performance was underlined by Cian Uijtdebroeks finishing fifth overall and Jørgen Nordhagen taking sixth. Nordhagen also claimed the white jersey as best young rider.
The final stage presented a few challenges, but not enough to create real splits. After an attempt by the team to shake things up, it ultimately came down to another bunch sprint. Paul Magnier took his second stage win, while Paul Double secured the overall classification.
For Team Visma | Lease a Bike, the race ends on a positive note. A strong ride in Saturday’s queen stage brought both Uijtdebroeks and Nordhagen close to the win, paving the way for two top-10 finishes in the GC and the overall team victory.
Jørgen Nordhagen
“This is my best result so far as a professional rider”, Nordhagen said after the final stage, reflecting on his first WorldTour top-10. “It’s been a great week. It was very special to be fighting for the top spots in such a strong field. This is a beautiful and, for me, the perfect way to end my first pro season. I finish the year with a really good feeling and I’m very motivated to build on this next year. For now, I’ll enjoy some time off and I’m really looking forward to seeing my family again.”
Sports director Jesper Mørkøv was satisfied with the team’s performance over the six days of racing. “It was a tough final stage, but making a difference was difficult. We were always well positioned when it mattered. Looking back, we can be pleased with our week here. We had two riders in the top five of the queen stage, two in the top six of the GC, and we won the team classification. On top of that, Jørgen’s victory in the young rider classification is a great achievement. All in all, it was a very good week here in China”, the Dane concluded.
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We psoted the report from GC winner Christophe Laporte's Team Visma | Lease a bike with the results.
Here's the report from Team Soudal Quick-Step:
The 23rd season in the history of the team – another incredibly successful one – ended Sunday afternoon at the Tour of Holland. The fourth and final stage of the race should have been one for the sprinters, after the organisers decided to take out the gravel section due to safety reasons, but ended up belonging to a breakaway.
Truth being said, the entire day was an eventful one, as attacks came thick and fast from kilometer zero, only for the peloton to react to all these moves and keep things together on the circuit. It was only more than 70 kilometers into the stage that a breakaway went, and when this happened, both Yves Lampaert and Tim Merlier were there for Soudal Quick-Step. In the blink of an eye, the escapees built a one-minute lead over the peloton, at which point those in the large group behind joined hands and started a fierce chase which resulted in the junction being made inside the last 50 kilometers.
A new breakaway formed, and our team remained prominent, setting the tempo in the field with Ayco Bastiaens and Pepijn Reinderink, who cut the deficit to just 20 seconds by the time they entered the final lap. There, Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) attacked and joined the leaders, together with whom he managed to hold off the bunch for just a few seconds, taking the win at the end of the day.
Tim Merlier wins Tour of Holland stage two.
Merlier proved to be the fastest from the peloton, coming home in the top five and bringing his incredibly successful season to a conclusion, while teammate Yves Lampaert, who came home in the same time, finished sixth on the general classification.
“I’m happy with the last week of the season, as we took three wins and left our mark on this race. I would have loved to win again today, especially as I felt good, but the breakaway managed to stay clear”, said Tim after the stage. “Overall, I’m really proud of my season, as I won many races and showed that I was worthy of wearing the European Champion’s jersey. Now it’s time for some rest, but I’m already looking forward to next year.”
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Here’s the team’s post:
Jay Vine and Florian Vermeersch finish runners-up at the Chrono des Nations and the Veneto Classic, respectively, as the 2025 campaign comes to an end
Florian Vermeersch rode to second place at the Veneto Classic with a strong display
Bringing an end to the 2025 road racing season for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Florian Vermeersch delivered an assured performance to take second place at the Veneto Classic in Italy. The Belgian was just pipped to the day’s victory by Sakarias Koller Løland (Uno-X Mobility) in an uphill sprint, but spent 116km at the front of the race to bring his debut season with the Emirati squad to an end.
As Vermeersch and his breakaway companions contested the honours, Tim Wellens delivered an attacking display from the peloton, eventually claiming ninth place across the line. For the two Belgians, Sunday’s race offered one final hit-out of the year, with the Veneto Classic the last race of the season for UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
Ending the season with another podium, the Emirati outfit brings the curtain down on its campaign that yielded 95 victories in record-breaking fashion. Beating the previous all-time season wins tally of 85 for a professional cycling team, set by Team Columbia-HTC in 2009, UAE Team Emirates-XRG went 10 better in 2025, and set a new record of 95 victories in one season.
Matching its own record from 2024, UAE Team Emirates-XRG claimed these wins from 20 different riders across its roster, whilst defending the Tour de France title and taking three Monument victories through Tadej Pogačar.
One of the team's Monument victories, Tadej Pogacar wins the 2025 Tour of Lombardy. Sirotti photo
A new superstar emerged in the form of Isaac del Toro, who finished runner-up at the Giro d’Italia and picked up 16 victories across the year, whilst the Emirati squad ran rampant at the Vuelta a España to take seven stage victories and second place overall through João Almeida.
A truly remarkable campaign saw UAE Team Emirates-XRG win seven out of the 11 UCI WorldTour one-week stage races, with the squad claiming 17 general classification victories across the year – another record. As the team lands the prize of being the No.1-ranked UCI WorldTeam for the third year in succession, Pogačar and co. picked up 14 stage wins across the three Grand Tours.
With the all-time season win tally smashed, UAE Team Emirates-XRG positions itself as one of the most successful teams in the history of professional cycling, something achieved thanks to the combined efforts of its riders and staff across an incredible campaign.
On Sunday afternoon, the Veneto Classic was raced in suitably entertaining fashion to close this chapter. From the gun in Soave, the action was fast-paced, and after 60km or so, a large breakaway escaped the grasp of the peloton.
Within the breakaway’s midst was Vermeersch from UAE Team Emirates-XRG, and the Belgian would remain at the head of the proceedings for the next 116km until the finish line. Meanwhile, the likes of Wellens and Pavel Sivakov remained attentive to opoportunties from the bunch behind.
Little by little, be it by a mechanical issue or a physical deficit, riders were shed from the breakaway as the day unfolded, and with 100km to go, the gap between the breakaway and the peloton was over two minutes. Sensing that the bunch might not see the front of the race again, Sivakov decided to chance his arm from the peloton and went on the attack in solo fashion.
It was always going to be an uphill task for Sivakov to close the two-minute gap to a 16-man front group alone, but the Frenchman was determined to end the season on the front foot. So too was Wellens, who said his goodbyes to the peloton inside the final 40km of the day.
Neither rider was ultimately able to bridge across to the breakaway, which had ensured the gap to the peloton was too large to close, but Wellens was able to mop up riders along the way to Bassano del Grappa. The Belgian national champion was rewarded with ninth place on the day, bringing a fine end to one of his most memorable seasons to date.
At the very front of the race, though, Vermeersh was keen to make the racing attritional, and with 18km to go, the recently-crowned gravel world champion launched a bold attack on a challenging cobbled climb. Thanks to Vermeersch’s tenacity, only eight riders remained at the foot of the Diesel Farm climb.
Stretching out for 1.2km at an average gradient of over 10%, the climb was entirely on gravel, and this certainly played a factor in the outcome. Having made a strong attack on its steep slopes, Diego Ulissi of XDS Astana came unstuck on the gravel descent, and five riders came to the foot of the final climb together.
Lorenzo Germani of Groupama-FDJ made a bid for glory on the Strada Soada (450m at 9.6%), but Vermeersch took up the lion’s share of the chasing behind, and as the race came into the final kilometre, it was all to play for amongst the leading five riders.
With the final few hundred metres coming in the form of an uphill kick to the line in Bassana del Grappa, Sakarias Koller Løland made an anticipatory move for Uno-X Mobility, and the 21-year-old was rewarded with the win. As for Vermeersch, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG returned to Løland’s back wheel, but could not overhaul the youngster to take the victory.
The Belgian was forced to settle for the podium, but could reflect on a positive week in the Veneto region in his post-race interview.
Vermeersch: “I was actually feeling confident for the sprint against two other guys but it was my own mistake and credits to the winner. He did the last few hundred metres the best and deserved the win.
“We were with a really big group and I could play it a bit more tactical and stay in the wheels a bit more than the others, because I knew that from behind Tim or Pavel would definitely come. In the end, it was a strong breakaway so we stayed away and I went for my own chance. Like I said, I am a bit disappointed because I really wanted to give the team to win.
“To come second is also a good result but not what I came for. It was a pretty good week [in the Veneto], we won the Giro del Veneto with Isaac, I was two times second. It was a good week but I race to win, so for the moment I am a bit disappointed. If it is possible, for sure I want to come back [to this race] to win.”
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary